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How Risky is Whisky?

The hard stuff can provide attractive returns, if you know what you're buying

By

Edward Russell-Walling

December 12, 2011

In September, a Chinese businessman bought a bottle of 62-year-old Dalmore single malt whisky at Singapore's Changi airport for 250,000 Singapore dollars. ($195,000). It was one of only 12 ever produced. Six years earlier, one of its siblings was sold in the bar of a hotel in Surrey, England, for a mere £32,000 ($51,000)–and consumed on the spot.

Apart from showing that a good drink can still trump the profit motive, this illustrates two noteworthy facts for alternative investors: While the market for fine wines is...